Fountain pen



April 30, 1963 G. A. RUBISSOW FOUNTAIN PEN 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 13, 1961 INVENTOR April 30, 1963 G. A. RUBISSOW I 3,087,465

FOUNTAIN PEN Filed March 13, 1961 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lnvam a (haw United States [Patent 3,087,465 FOUNTAIN PEN George A. Rubissow, 420 Riverside Drive, New York 25, N.Y. Filed Mar. 13, 1961, Ser. No. 107,876 9 Claims. (Cl. 120-46) This invention is a continuation-in-part of the invention described in the patent specification filed on March 6, 1961, under Ser. No. 107,875 for Fountain Pen.

In fountain pens of the type using a rubber ink reservoir, it should obligatorily have its walls thick enough and they should be made or a rubber having such elasticity that after the reservoir is compressed, for instance by a lever which is thereafter released, this elasticity alone will be suflicient to permit the ink-reservoir to acquire its normally expanded shape and thereby soak in the ink. The rubber walls have to be quite thick and the operation mechanism occupies a lot of space. In addition such pens cannot overcome the difiiculty of leakage because the air remains enclosed in some quantity inside of the reservoir above the ink when the pen is in writing position. The quantity of such air increases continuously in function of the reservoir being emptied. The changes of atmospheric pressure and of the temperature have also an influence upon the volume of the air and through it upon the ink, and the pen leaks. In addition, the reservoir only takes in a ridiculously small amount of ink and requires continuous refilling. These are some of defects of present fountain-pen types.

This invention provides a pen which will substantially not leak under the change of atmospheric pressure or temperature and it will hold much more ink than any other type of fountain-pen including piston type pens.

FIGURE -1 is a cross-sectional side view with part broken away of one form of the fountain pen according to this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a cross-sectional view of FIGURE 1 along 22.

FIGURE 3 is a side view with parts broken away of one of the membrane elements used for this invention.

FIGURE 4 is a cross-sectional view of FIGURE 3 along IV-IV.

FIGURE 5 is a cross-sectional side view with parts broken away of another form of the membrane.

FIGURE 6 is a side view with parts broken away of one of the molds for the making of the membranes.

FIGURE 7 is a cross-sectional view of FIGURE 6 along 77.

FIGURES 8 and 9 are cross-sectional views with parts broken away of other forms of the membrane.

FIGURE 10 is a cross-sectional view of the cap for the fountain pen.

FIGURE ll is a cross-sectional view with parts broken away of another form of this invention.

One of the main forms of this invention comprises a fountain pen which, instead of using the common rubber ink receiver (which as described above must have sulficient resiliency) uses a compound ink receiver, subject of this invention, composed of a first part and a second part. This first part is formed by about half of the longitudinal space of the casing of said fountain pen. This second part comprises a very easily bendable, at least in one direction, and easily self-collapsible at least in one direction, membrane-like member, provided with magnetically attractable reinforcements. These reinforcements are so arranged that they do not prevent at all the easy bending and self-collapsing qualities of this membrane-like member, at least in one direction. When this membrane-like member is inflated it produces automati- 3,887,465 Patented Apr. 30, 1963 cally the second part of the ink receiver just opposite to the first part.

The self-collapsing of the membrane-like member occurs automatically when it deflates from its inflated with ink position into its deflated position due to writing for instance.

According to this invention, the membrane-like member is made from either elastic or non-elastic, easily bendable material, such as for instance but not limiting thereto, artificial or natural thin latex or rubber or plastic compositions for instance such as used in male contraceptives or fish skin bladders. The thickness of the walls of this membrane-like member could be as thin as the Walls of the male contraceptives or fish bladders.

According to this invention, it is not necessary for the ink receiver to use its elasticity for pumping of ink, and it is also not necessary that the ink receiver be expandable during its operation. Obviously, the membrane-like membrane-like member forming by its up-and-down :movement the ink receiver according to this invention, could be stretched and expanded considerably as does latex, if this is desired. This invention does not use such capacities for expansion and such expansion cannot take place in the closed inner contour of the casing of the {fountain pen and only the bending and the self-collapsing :capacities of the membrane-like member, in at least in {one direction, are used. The amount of ink in the fountain pen exercises such a very small pressure on the latex membrane-like member, that no expansion of it takes place.

' All the figures are shown on an enlarged scale and fdiagrammatically. In most of the figures the easily bend- 'able, self-collapsible membrane-like member 27B is shown as made of latex, but it could be made of any fother suitable material.

f In FIGURES 1 and 2, the easily bendable, self-collapsible membrane-like member 27B could be mounted in the casing 20 in any desirable manner, for instance on a ring-support 26, FIGURES 1 and 2, which is either screwed in or slideably mounted on recess 31, FIGURE 1, upon the casing 20. The pen-nib-holding member 23 is shown as example as made of two pieces 23A and 2313. The nib-holding member 23B is provided with at least one ink feeding channel 24 for the flow of ink from the ink receiver '27 to the pin nib 22 mounted on said pen-nib holding. The ink receiver 27 could be of the same dimensions as the inner part of the casing 20. When the ink receiver is fully inflated, there will be practically only a thin film or a vent-space 28 of air interposed between the casing 20 and the outer surface of the membrane-like member 27B. This vent-space 28 could in fact be very thin even equal zero. When the ink receiver 27, after some writing had been done, will diminish its volune of ink, member 27B will automatically deflate and take the shape and place as shown in dotted lines by 27BR, FIG- URES 1 and 2. This is shown approximately because any intermittent position and any shape could take place. The casing 20 is provided with at least one vent 40, but this only in that part of the casing which is adjacent to the membrane-like member 27B when it is in its inflated position as shown in solid-lines in FIGURES 1 and 2. The provision of such vent or vents 40' permits the at 'mospheric air to penetrate freely when required from the atmosphere into the vent space 28 thus permitting the membrane-like member 27B to very slightly or substantially but easily collapse when required by any change of atmospheric pressure or temperature, or due to deflation of it caused by writing. This is an extremely important object of the invention because the membranelike member 27B is easily self-collapsible. Thus it will automatically adapt itself to any condition of the atinosphere. Such vents 40 could be in fact very small, for instance /2 mm. in diameter and have any form and contour and be straight or zig-zag shaped and at any angle to the symmetrical axis X-X.

The figures show the shape of the fountain pen as being cylindrical, having a round cross-section, but any type of cross-section could be used, for instance a hexagonal, or square, or oval.

One of the main embodiments of this invention comprises the membrane-like member 278 shown in FIG- URES 1, 2, 3 and 4 as having its cross-sectional dimension of about one-half of the circumference of the easing 20 shown above axis ZZ in FIGURE 2. Its longi tudinal length is equal to about all the longitudinal free space of the casing 20 along its longitudinal axis X-X, FIGURE 1.

This easily self-collapsible membrane-like member is mounted directly upon the inside wall of the casing 20. In FIGURES l, 2, 3 and 4 such membrane-like member is mounted in a groove 51 provided accordingly in the wall of the casing 20 all around it in the plane passing parallel through axes ZZ and XX, or slightly below it. Such groove could be of any shape and depth, for instance the groove 51 could be slightly tapering (or flaring) or rectangular or curved. In such a groove 51 the border or rim 50 of the membrane-like member is mounted accordingly and is sealed therein by any suitable hermetically sealing means, for instance but not limiting thereto by compression of the reinforcement rim 50, FIGURES 1, 2 or by a glue or an adhesive, or by a mixture of latex with silicon, etc.

That part of the rim 50 of the membrane-like member which has to be mounted in the groove 51 provided in the ring-support 26, FIGURES 1 and 2 is mounted in the same manner as above described for the casing 20. The groove 51 provided in the casing and the groove 51 provided in the ring-support 26 is one closed contour groove 51 which for this purpose could have preferably two mating rectangular corners 50C, FIGURE 3. However, if these corners will be made oval, a corresponding adjustment should be made in the ring-support 26. The ringsupport 26 has a large opening 55, FIGURES 1 and 2, on its lower part, i.e. in the part below the plane passing through the axes ZZ and X-X, and this opening 55 forms a part of the ink receiver 27.

The ink receiver 27 is bounded on its bottom by the substantially half spherical inner surface of the casing 20 situated below the above mentioned plane and is bounded on its upper part by the inner surface of the membranelike member 2713, FIGURES 1 and 2. In its position shown by 27B the fountain pen is full of ink and when it will be emptied, the membrane-like member will collapse to the position shown in dotted lines by 27BR.

The membrane-like member could be provided with a reinforced border rim 50 and this rim could be made of any suitable material and even reinforced with a wire or a thin strip of metal, or the whole rim could even be itself made from a metal or a rigid material. In FIG- URES 2 and 5, rim St) is shown as being covered on at least one of its sides by the same material from which the membrane-like member is made.

The main embodiment of this invention comprises the membrane-like member which is provided with a plurality of reinforcements 44 and 44A, or 44AA, FIG- URES 1 and 2. Such reinforcements if intended to be actuated by a magnet should be obligatorily made of either such materials which could be easily attracted by a magnet or even if desired to be themselves an already magnetized material, i.e. a magnet like magnetic iron or suitable aluminum alloys etc. Such reinforcements are all either attached to the membrane-like member by any suitable means, by glue, an adhesive, or by latex vulcanization, etc. or are embedded therein. These reinforcements could be made of small strips 44, FIGURES 1, 2, 3, and 4, or strips 44B'D, or from small scattered pieces of any form for instance from squares as 44A, FIG- URE 1, or from circular pieces, FIGURE 3. The provision of these strips and pieces '44AA is of importance to provide pulling means for the magnet, i.e. means which could be attracted by a magnet and by doing so will automatically attract the whole membrane-like member 27B to which these pulling means are attached.

When the membrane-like member is entirely collapsed to its position 278R shown in dotted lines in FIGURES l and 2, the volume of the ink receiver 27 is reduced practically to Zero. If now the magnet 46 is placed on the longitudinal top of the pen as shown in FIGURE 2, it will attract through the walls of the casing the strips 44 and pieces 44A or 4'4AA from their position shown in dotted lines by 27BR and thus create a magnetic pump action. Therefore, if the pen nib is placed into the ink, the ink will be pumped into the expanding ink receiver from its empty to its full volume capacity shown in FIG- URE 2. If one desires to empty a filled-with-ink fountain pen, the magnet should be placed beneath the plane passing through the axes ZZ and XX, as shown in dotted lines by the position of the magnet 46A in FIG- URE 2, and then the ink will be forced out from the ink receiver through the channel 24 to the outside.

The weight of the ink inside of the ink receiver is not great enough to stretch the walls of the ink receiver even if these walls are as thin like the walls of a male contraceptive, which thickness is recommended for use according to this invention. Therefore the change in atmospheric pressure and in the surrounding temperature, or any change caused by the temperature of the hand, would not increase any pressure inside of the ink receiver because increase in the volume of the ink, at such a time, due to the temperature increase, will immediately be self-adjusted by a self-increasing of the volume of the ink receiver because the easily bendable and self-collapsible walls of the membrane-like member, in such a case, simply increase accordingly. Such self-compensating increase or decrease of the volume of the ink receiver avoids any leakage of the ink.

Care should be taken when filling the pen with ink, particularly for the first time. When the ink is for the first time introduced into the ink receiver by a magnet 46, FIGURE 1, and after the filling is completed, the pen should be held for a few seconds with the pen nib up and thereafter the magnet be placed for a moment in its position 46A shown in dotted lines, i.e. the position for deflating the ink receiver or for emptying the fountain pen. If there was any air inside of the ink receiver it will be the first thing to come out through the nib and as soon as ink appears, the magnet should be removed at once and the pen could be again immersed into the bottle and, if necessary, a little more ink could be pumped again into the ink receiver by the magnet to be placed accordingly. Once the air is eliminated from the ink receiver, as before described, air will not any more penetrate into the ink receiver during the writing or idle state of the fountain pen.

In FIGURES 3 and 4 is shown a membrane-like member 27B provided with a rim 50, and with a plurality of reinforcing means 44AA, 44A and '44 attached to the surface of the membrane like member 27B.

In FIGURE 5 is shown the membrane-like member having a cross-section which is not a circular one, and having a rim 50A in form of a rectangular angle. The rim 50A is glued or vulcanised upon the edge of the mem- 'brane-like member 27BK. The vent 40B has a zig-zag form. The reinforcement means 44D are provided upon the surface of the membrane like member 27BK.

In FIGURES 6 and 7 is shown schematically a double mold 54 for making simultaneously two identical membrane-like members 27B. First upon this mold are attached the ready made closed contour rims 50, made of any suitable material for instance of latex. The mold 54 is hung on a support 53 and then sprayed with latex or the like. Thereafter, the reinforcements 44 and 44A or 44AA are affixed to this latex, etc., already solidified or partially solidified. Then, if desired, another layer of latex, etc. could be sprayed to embed these reinforcements. After the operation is ready and the latex solidified, the two molded membrane-like members are separated by cutting them through with a knife along the plane passing through axes ZZ and Y-Y. Then the membrane-like members are peeled off and ready for use.

In FIGURE 8 the membrane-like member has thin magnetically attractable reinforcements, for instance wires embedded in it. The rim 52 is a wire having a circular cross-section. The free edge of the membrane-like member is wrapped around this wire-rim 52.

In FIGURE 9 the casing 20 is made of two longitudinal mating halves 20A and 203 provided with interlocking mating means 20AA and 2013B. The membrane-like member is atfixed to the casing half 20A of the casing 20 by suitable means, for instance as shown in FIGURES 5, 7 and 11. The half 20B could be made if desired of transparent glass or plastic.

In FIGURE 10 is shown a cap 21 with a magnet 47.

In FIGURE 11 is shown a membrane-like member 27C made of plastic or fish-skin.

In FIGURE l l is shown still another embodiment of this invention using the reinforced, easily bendable, selfcollapsible membrane-like member, wherein instead of a magnet, a lever of any kind could be used, as for instance, a hook-like member 57 which could be inserted through a narrow slit 58 provided in the walls of the casing in the place substantially passing through a plane corresponding to that shown at Y-Y in FIGURES l and 2, which hook-like member 57 could then be pivotally hooked to a bracket-like or pivot member 59 affixed to the central longitudinal reinforcement means 44, made for this purpose of any suitable rigid material and then, when the hook is pulled out it will take the place 57A shown in dotted lines and will thus perform manually the pumping action of the pen, without any magnetic action of the magnet, not to be used at all for this embodiment. When the filling is completed, the hook-like member 57 could be unhooked or pivoted from the bracket-like member 59 by tilting it to the right and then it could be placed into its bed provided in the wall of the casing 20 and rest there until further use.

If desired, the casing 20 shown in FIGURES l, 2 and 3 could be made of two symmetrical parts, for instance one part below the groove 51 and the other part above the groove 51, i.e. the casing 20 will be longitudinally split, for instance into the equal half circle parts of 180 each. If desired, the upper part could be just slightly bigger-for instance occupy 190 or 195 instead of 180 of circumference. The two parts could be interlocked one with another by means of indented mating grooves (male and female) of any shape and nature well known in the art. If desired, these grooves may be so calibrated that the thin Wall of the membranedike member could be inserted therein during the mounting of the casing, in which case the whole operation of the mounting of the membrane-like member could be achieved by very simple means. The support 26 in this case could also be an integral part respectively of each said upper and lower parts of the casing and thus be also divided into its two parts through the male and female interlocking grooves substituting for the groove 51. This closed contour groove is hermetically seala-ble. It is obvious that for such a two-part self-interlocking casing 20, as above described, it is not obligatorily necessary to provide the membrane-like member with the rim 50 and such a rim could be either entirely eliminated or substituted with a very small highly elastic rim which will act itself as an automatic hermetically sealing means when mounted. If desired, the above-mentioned twopiece support member 26 integral with the respective casing parts could be as well an integral one-piece unit with 6 the pen-holding member 23, FIGURE 1, which in this case will also be split accordingly. This is not shown in the figures, except in FIGURE 9.

Instead of strips '44 and pieces 44A and 44AA shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 only such pieces or any combination of them with strips could be used. These pieces and strips could be of any suitable dimensions from the tiniest one, for instance from mm. in thickness or from mm. in thickness to /2 mm. in width or to 1 or 2 or 3 or more in width or in diameter, this given by way of example only and not limiting thereto. Instead of strips, etc. very thin wires such as used for the thinnest magnetic wire recorder, for instance, could be used by placing them in appropriate places of the walls of the membrane-like member or by embedding them in the walls of the membrane-like member shown by 56 in FIGURE 8. Only a few wires are shown, but any number of them could be used to provide the required pulling effect. The embedding of pieces or wire or of iron or steel powder, etc., into the walls of the membranelike member could be made in a known manner, for instance first one layer of latex or any other suitable product could be sprayed upon the mold, then when sufliciently dry, the reinforcement-pieces, wires, powder, etc. could be applied thereon in a desired pattern, then again another one or more spraying with the latex and the like could be done, and thus the membrane-like member be ready for use. When powdered iron or steel or certain aluminium alloys in powdered form are used, the powder could be totally intermixed with the latex or the like materials used for making of the membrane-like member. If desired, such powder could be only applied upon the surface of the membrane-like member in a certain pattern for instance following the patterns shown by strips and pieces in FIGURES 1, 2, 6 and 7. In FIGURE 9 is shown a special simplified attachment of the membrane-like member 27B to the casing 29 by gluing through appropriate adhesives or gluing means or by vulcanization the free end 50A to the corresponding piece of the casing 20 along a closed contour pattern 503 shown in dotted lines. The membrane-like member 27BB in FIGURE 9 is shown without reinforcements, being made of a mixture of latex with iron powder or the like material, but it can be a membrane-like member of any type.

A magnet could be of any shape and type and could, for instance, be provided in a safety cap 21 where the magnet 47 is mounted inside of the cap and could be used by placing it instead of the magnet 47 as previously described.

Although this invention was described as using a magnet for moving the reinforced, self-collapsible membranelike member 273, this invention can also be used Without using the magnet at all if desired. For instance, if a person has lost the magnet or does not desire to use the magnet, in such a case the pen-holding member 23 or nib-holder member 23B has to be simply unscrewed and then the ink poured directly from the ink bottle into the pen through the opening '55 of the support 26 into the reservoir space 27 of the ink receiver 27B, or be poured in by a dropper. Thereafter the pen will be closed by screwing in the pen-holding member 23 or nib-holder 23B and will then be ready for use.

What I claim is:

1. A fountain pen having a casing, a pen-nib holding member extending transversely across one end of said casing, a pen nib supported by said member, and a very thin, easily bendable, easily self-collapsing in at least one direction membrane-like member, said membrane-like member having its outer contour attached and sealed across the inner walls of said casing and said pen-nib holding member to define therewith an ink-receiving space communicating with the pen-nib on one side of said pennib holding member and a vent space on the other side thereof, at least one free vent being provided in that part of said casing which communicates with said vent space to establish a free passage of air from the atmosphere, said membrane-like member being provided with a plurality of reinforcement means scattered upon its surface, said reinforcement means being made from a magnetically attractable material and scattered in such a manner upon said membrane-like member that said member will retain its self-collapsing capacity in at least one direction whereby when said ink receiver changes its volume and its form due to its emptying or filling with ink, said membrane-like member will adjust itself to the then available quantity of ink in said ink receiver, and whereby when the pen is empty and its pen nib immersed into an ink bottle and a magnet placed adjacent to said casing at the vent space side, said membrane-like member will then be attracted by said magnetic action toward said vent space side to act as a pumping means filling said ink receiver with ink.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said membrane-like member has a closed contour rim and the walls of said casing and said pen-nib-holding member defines a closed contour groove, said rim being mounted in said groove.

3. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said reinforcement means are made in the central longitudinal part of said membrane out of a plurality of very thin narrow strips and are made on both sides of said strips from small very thin pieces scattered upon the surface of said membrane.

4. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said reinforcement means are made in the central longitudinal part of said membrane out of a plurality of very thin narrow strips and are made on both sides of said strips from small very thin pieces scattered upon the surface of said membrane, said strips and said pieces having a dimension of from mm. in thickness and of mm. in width and being not more than /2 mm. in thickness and 8 mm. in width.

5. A device as set forth in claim 1, said casing being provided with a membrane lifting means operatively interconnected with said reinforcement means whereby said lifting means may engage said reinforcement means to draw said membrane-like member towards said vent to pump the ink into said ink receiver.

6. A device as set forth in claim 1, said casing being provided with a membrane lifting means operatively interconnected with said reinforcement means whereby said lifting means may engage said reinforcement means to draw said membrane-like member towards said vent to pump the ink into said ink receiver, said lifting means being made in the form of a common lever.

7. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said reinforcement means is magnetically attractable powdered material scattered upon the surface of said membrane.

8. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said material used for making said elastic, easily bendable, selfcollapsing membrane is intermixed with a powdered material which is made from magnetically attractable material.

9. A device as set forth in claim 1, wherein said casing is of two longitudinal halves mating, said two halves having groove-like interlocking means provided upon their edges, one of said halves having a male imprint of said interlocking means and said other half having a female imprint of it, said pen-nib holding member being likewise of two respective parts and provided respectively with same said interlocking means to receive the respective part of the membrane whereby when said membrane is compressed between said male and female imprints said closed contour of interlocking is achieved.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,734,485 Millas Feb. 4, 1956 

1. A FOUNTAIN PEN HAVING A CASING, A PEN-NIB HOLDING MEMBER EXTENDING TRANSVERSELY ACROSS ONE END OF SAID CASING, A PEN NIB SUPPORTED BY SAID MEMBER, AND A VERY THIN, EASILY BENDABLE, EASILY SELF-COLLAPSING IN AT LEAST ONE DIRECTION MEMBRANE-LIKE MEMBER, SAID MEMBRANE-LIKE MEMBER HAVING ITS OUTER CONTOUR ATTACHED AND SEALED ACROSS THE INNER WALLS OF SAID CASING AND SAID PEN-NIB HOLDING MEMBER TO DEFINE THEREWITH AN INK-RECEIVING SPACE COMMUNICATING WITH THE PEN-NIB ON ONE SIDE OF SAID PENNIB HOLDING MEMBER AND A VENT SPACE ON THE OTHER SIDE THEREOF, AT LEAST ONE FREE VENT BEING PROVIDED IN THAT PART OF SAID CASING WHICH COMMUNICATES WITH SAID VENT SPACE TO ESTABLISH A FREE PASSAGE OF AIR FROM THE ATMOSPHERE, SAID MEMBRANE-LIKE MEMBER BEING PROVIDED WITH A PLURALITY OF REINFORCEMENT MEANS SCATTERED UPON ITS SURFACE, SAID REINFORCEMENT MEANS BEING MADE FROM A MAGNETICALLY ATTRACTABLE MATERIAL AND SCATTERED IN SUCH A MANNER UPON SAID MEMBRANE-LIKE MEMBER THAT SAID MEMBER WILL RETAIN ITS SELF-COLLAPSING CAPACITY IN AT LEAST ONE DIRECTION WHEREBY WHEN SAID INK RECEIVER CHANGES ITS VOLUME AND ITS FORM DUE TO ITS EMPTYING OR FILLING WITH INK, SAID MEMBRANE-LIKE MEMBER WILL ADJUST ITSELF TO THE THEN AVAILABLE QUANTITY OF INK IN SAID INK RECEIVER, AND WHEREBY WHEN THE PEN IS EMPTY AND ITS PEN NIB IMMERSED INTO AN INK BOTTLE AND A MAGNET PLACED ADJACENT TO SAID CASING AT THE VENT SPACE SIDE, SAID MEMBRANE-LIKE MEMBER WILL THEN BE ATTRACTED BY SAID MAGNETIC ACTION TOWARD SAID VENT SPACE SIDE TO ACT AS A PUMPING MEANS FILLING SAID INK RECEIVER WITH INK. 